The object of the invention is a lighting element. A further object of the invention is a lighting fixture fitted with such element(s).
The term lighting element encompasses all incandescent bulbs, neon tubes, sodium bulbs, Xenon bulbs, etc. White lights for lighting can have low colour content usually bordering on red, yellow, and even blue. However, for lighting, it is vital that an element of this type provides significant white light content.
Approximately twenty years ago, new light sources known as LEDs appeared on the market. These LEDs, which are not usually very bright, are used for lighting on roads, walls or signposts. This lighting and signage function is usually achieved with coloured LEDs, namely red, blue, green, yellow, etc. LEDs. This lighting is carried out to indicate routes or obstacles and has low luminous intensity, to prevent dazzling. Unlike bulbs of all sorts, the LEDs used for lighting offer the great advantage of having an extremely long lifetime, in the order of 100,000 hours of use. This long lifetime is a significant advantage, as it is no longer necessary to change or replace faulty lamps or bulbs.
The purpose of this invention is to propose a lighting element, and therefore an element emitting white light with this long operational life, and this lighting element can be advantageously used in a lighting fixture fitted with one or more pairs of electrical supply terminals evenly distributed inside, along the lighting fixture. These lighting strip fixtures are generally used to provide surface lighting over long lengths and are made up of units that can be up to 6 meters long which, when placed one after another, allow for long lengths to be lit, for example ceilings, walls, etc. The lighting strips, which are particularly suited to receiving the lighting elements that are the object of this invention, are described in European patent no. 652398 or in PCT/CH 97/00317, such patent and PCT patent belonging to the Agabekov group, which is also the holder of this patent. The electrical supply to the lighting strips mentioned above is obtained through electrical supply tracks, also protected by European patents no. 375 623 and 516 578, also in the name of the Agabekov group. These electrical supply tracks are slid inside the lighting strips and have pairs of supply terminals placed one after another at equal distances along the track. The lighting elements that are the object of this invention are advantageously placed along the tracks between the pairs of supply terminals. It can immediately be seen that, once the strip is installed and fitted with the lighting elements according to the invention, it will have a very long lifetime and no further maintenance will be necessary.